EDITORIAL: Ride the waves of unstable economy

If you are a typical middle-class American with a full-time job, probably less than last year and the year before.

In addition to a payroll tax hike that has taken about $30 from the average pay check, the price of gasoline is edging up to about $4 per gallon and the cost of groceries is still climbing.

In addition to any number of miscellaneous expenses, we’re guessing the price of your health insurance has gone up as well. And when is the last time you’ve received a salary increase? For many, it’s been several years.

The upside of this complex economy is that this is a buyers’ market for many large purchases. Houses, for example, can be bought for thousands of dollars less than a decade ago. That’s not only because the value of homes has decreased, but also because many are in foreclosure. While that may be a bonus for a buyer, it is a burden for the seller, many of whom have been forced to take money to closings just to unload what had become a white elephant and avoid having the banks take them away.

The question is when or if we will ever return to a state of comfort where our salaries keep pace with the cost of living or the cost of living drops within an affordable range.

The subtle shift from an industrial society to an information age within the last 10 years has thrown a wrench in the works for common business models. It shuttered our factories and put people on unemployment rolls.

The new age is unpredictable. What worked last year may not work next. We haven’t been here before; thus we can only guess where we’re headed. There are no models for the digital age. Almost all businesses have been forced to change how they operate.

Points of reference for idyllic economic times include the post-war era of the 1950s, but no sustainable periods since. Even that era has been lost for comparison among those of Generation X who are starting their own businesses or are heavily invested in a career.

And then, of course, there are millions who are still unemployed, victims of downsizing and the turn of the economy.

It looks as if the economy will remain unstable for quite some time. And most of those who can remember the ’50s won’t be around to see if those times return.

We can heed some good advice from those who survived the Great Depression: scrimp, save, work hard and hang on.